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How to get all my catalog/metadata copied to my new system?

12-01-2018, 09:04 AM

Hello,

Apparently I do not understand enough about metadata and catalog data and databases. So I look for help. Thanks in advance.

At the moment I have TWO different systems running on ONE windows pc.
1. My old system harddisk running Windows 7 with ACDSee 10 Pro.
2. A newly added SSD system disk running Windows 10 with ACDSee Ultimate 2018

I am slowly migrating everything from system 1 to system 2. Must often logout/login to swap the system, just to use system 1 as an 'example' for the settings etc when installing the app on system 2. I make notes, make screenphotos with my smartphone often, because in most cases EXPORT of settings is for various reasons not possible. Only MusicBee has an excellent export/import feature.

After around 10 attempts I already succeeded in migrating old ACDSee to new ACDSee
But what I can NOT get done is part of the metadata. Some are active in the new ACDSee:
a. my personally edited system of keywords, for instance, works. They are visible in ACDSee-New AND searchable.
b. also the CATEGORIES and the RATINGS work normally in ACDSee-NEW
But what I can NOT get done:
c. The colored LABELS in ACDSee are still the default ACDSee ones, not the edited set I used in ACDSee-OLD.
And whatever I search, I cannot figure out why not...

Originally my metadata in ACDSee were ONLY stored in the database. After things went wrong I found suggestions to embed all metadata (EXIF and ACDSEE) into the image files. I did so, copied and converted the updated DB to ACDSee-NEW and categories, ratings, were all ok.
But still: my (edited) LABELS NOT.

While typing this a possible answer comes up my mind, but I am totally not sure about it...
Is the problem perhaps that the SET of labels in my ACDSee-OLD was never saved as my 'private-edited-set'? With the result that ACDSee-NEW just reads and uses the default set that I exported from OLD to NEW?UPDATE:it did NOT help that I renamed my labels in DB-old to LABELS-WIM and then exported and converted the old DB again into ACDsee-NEW. No difference.
Same as before: the pictures that I ever labelled in the DB-old have a bar under the thumbnail. But the bar is always WHITE. It should be red, orange, blue etc.
And searches by label do not have any effect.

Custom label sets are stored in the Registry, not the database, so they can't be transferred by exporting the database. Normally they are transferred automatically on first launch of the newer version of ACDSee, but that only works on the same system.

Luckily there is a pretty simple workflow to transfer the label sets to your new system:
1. On your old system, open the Start Menu and type regedit.
2. The Registry Editor will open. Navigate to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\ACD Systems\ACDSee Pro\100\LabelPresets.
3. If you expand the LabelPresets key in the tree, you should see one key for each custom label set. I've attached a screenshot showing my tree, with the custom label set 'Custom Set'.
4. Right-click on the LabelPresets key and click Export. This will allow you to export a .REG file that you will need to transfer to your new system.

A couple of extra steps because you're changing ACDSee versions as well as systems.
5. On your new system, open the .REG file you saved by right-clicking it and selecting Edit. It should open in Notepad or another text editor.
6. Change each instance of "ACDSee Pro\100" to "ACDSee Ultimate\110". If you have a lot of label sets, it may be easier to open Edit > Replace to replace every instance.
Note: These strings will depend on your versions of ACDSee on the old and new systems. If you were importing to Ultimate 2019, the second string would be "ACDSee Ultimate\120".

7. Save and close the .REG file, then double-click it and follow the prompts to add it to the Registry.

The next time you open ACDSee, the label sets should be available, and labels on images should be colorized to match the currently-selected label set.

Comment

Hello Tristan,
I just found your reply today - apparently I wasn't automatically informed of a reply - but don't know if such setting is available. Am totally new here...

Thanks for your extensive reply. It makes me a bit 'scared' because the only 2 times that I ever followed instructions about a registry change, things were messed up. I am not a pc expert AT ALL, just a user. Have vague ideas about registries and keys but usually follow the strong warning: stay away from the registry unless you know what you are doing. So usually I follow that warning - since the 2 failures. Not sure yet if I dare to follow your instructions.

Apart from that:
The newest attempt before I read your message resulted in a db copy in ultimate that is partly ok, partly not:
1. I labeled and categorized around 500 pix (and plan to do many more...)
2. DB-old has 1 set of customized color labels only.
3. DB-new doesn't have that set (now I understand why not)
4. But DB new has 500 WHITE bars where colored label bars would be expected. So apparently the DB-NEW 'knows' they have been labeled, but the correct label could not be detected.
5. It seems that the safest and easiest way to colorlabel the old 500 is with the help of my tablet camera: I make photos of about 15 acdsee thumnail pages in my old collection. Then take these photos as examples to colorlabel the same 500 pix on my new one.
6. But with the keywords it is totally different. And not easy to make photos as edit-examples. First of all because the detailed nature of the keyword structure (categories + sub + subsub categories).
7. In my DB-NEW the keyword structure is available. But, strangely enough, the check-boxes are missing. That not only means that no keyword information has been imported - it even means that no new keyword information can be added.

I hope you are able and willing to give me extra advice.
Be aware of my age (74) and my status (simple user)
Hope you can nevertheless still do anything.
Thanks in advance,
Greetings,
Wim

Comment

After around 15 different attempts with different export/import/convert processes (it feels like gambling...) I am coming closer.
Remark 7 above is not valid anymore.
The keyword checkboxes are BACK!
But:
1. they are SOMETIMES back, depending on the display I select. Cannot find reasonable reaons why they are visibile one time and next time no more.
2. not a single box has been checked, visibly... No checkmark.
3. but if i do certain experimental searches it SEEMS to find the pictures that I have keywordcategorized. Why then doesn't ACDSee SHOW the checkmarks???
4. i could NOT FIND any way to solve this problem. Unless any wizzard comes with a solution, I will have to re-add the keyword checkmarks manually.
5. the easiest way seems to be that I open version 10 and version 2018 ultimate side by side on my screen, expand both keyword lists, and copy each set of marks 1 by 1 for each photo.... 500x Grmpfffff@#!!......
6. apparently 2018 ultimate handles keywords differently, with quick keywords, keyword group boxes etc. Maybe this is the reason for all the fuzz: the export/import doesn't handle this properly...
7. apart from all this: the version namelist of ACDSee is growing and growing and getting more and more confusing: 10, 10 pro, 10 ultimate, 10 ultimate 2018, 10 ultimate pro 2018, 10 pro ultimate 2018, 10 super ultimate pro 2018, ultimate photo studio pro 2018 > how many more suggestions should I make you can use to make your customers crazy!??
8. To be more serious: The version that I use now (Ultimate Photo Studio 2018) is NOT listed in the drop down box where I am supposed to enter my current version. A total mess!

Still any suggestion???

Wim

UPDATE TO THIS UPDATE:
Seems the problem is solved. All category info seems HAD been imported in the new DB but simply was not displayed. Was a matter of experimenting with catalog settings. NOW i DO see the checkboxes (they were 'disabled' before....but not by me...) and the checkmarks seem ok. Only some colorlabelled pix miss their label, But that is an easy job, compared to what I had EXPECTED i would have had to do...

Even when solved: let me assure you the interface, manual and acdsee help are apparently not 100% adequate, to say it mildly. I once wrote 2 manuals for a tv company - so I know that every time you had done everything to satisfy ALL idiots, someone came up with a new idiot. Today it's MY turn, being one of them... Sorry if I kept you busy... Ciao!

Comment

Sorry I didn't see your posts here until now. I was away on the 7th. The forum is quite good for looking up information and consulting with experienced users, but less useful for rapid response. In this case, it sounds like you solved your keyword issue on your own, but if you have issues with ACDSee in the future, contacting Customer Support is more reliable for one-on-one assistance.

As for the label issue, you're quite right that the new database knows that images have been labeled - more than this, it knows the name of each label applied to an image. The only thing it doesn't have is the label set, which is why the label colours default to white. So if you recreate the label set, the label colours will reappear.

I can completely understand why you don't want to touch the Registry. Since you only have one label set, it is probably easiest and safest to recreate it manually. If you take a screenshot or photo of the label set on your old system, you can use that as a reference to recreate it on your new system. In the Catalog pane, click the gear icon in the Labels section to edit your label sets, then change the names and save as a new set.